Deputy Opens Fire on Rape Suspect

Posted: Wed 9:19 PM, Aug 25, 2004&nbsp|&nbsp

Updated: Wed 9:19 PM, Aug 25, 2004

The terror filled night began Tuesday morning when a man entered a south side apartment and allegedly sexually assaulted a women. Launching a manhunt for the suspect, he managed to elude Tallahassee police until Wednesday morning when he allegedly struck again at the same place.

Yellow tape corners off the crime scene. For one woman, the scene of this nightmare came to life and stretched into the daylight hours.

Larry Campbell, Leon County Sheriff, said, “He showed up last night, broken into window, sexually assaulted her and kept her through the night."

Authorities say when morning came, the suspect, 25-year-old Leo Rains, Jr., let the victim call work. She used the opportunity to send out an SOS and within minutes a Leon County deputy was on the scene.

It pushed the deputy to respond with deadly force, firing off a single gunshot, hitting Rains in the chest.

Tyra Wilcoxson, a neighbor, says, "I heard the shots but I didn't think nothing of it until my neighbor came and knocked on my door."

Deputies crowd the Stuckey Street apartment, combing the complex for clues. During the struggle deputies say Rains told authorities repeatedly he had a gun and threatened to shot them. It is still unclear whether he had a gun or not.

The suspect, Leo Rains, Jr., is a convicted sexual offender. Wednesday morning deputies learned he had three misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest.

Rains was taken to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and is expected to recover. Right now, deputies aren't sure of their connection between the victim and her attacker, but there seems to be some type of previous relationship.

As for charges, Rains is facing sexual battery, burglary, false imprisonment, resisting arrest with violence and depriving an officer of his weapon.

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